The present invention relates to fin field effect transistor (finFET) devices, and more specifically, to silicide formation on replacement metal gate (RMG) finFET devices.
Salicide (self-aligned silicide) refers to the formation of electrical contacts between the semiconductor device (finFET) and supporting interconnect structure. Typically, a thin refractive metal film reacts with silicon in active regions of the device to form a metal silicide (metal silicon alloy), and does not react with other materials such as insulators. The contact is regarded as self-aligned because it does not require lithographic patterning. The silicide between the contact and the semiconductor material (specifically, the source-drain region) lowers the resistance.